STARTING LINEUP: B-

This lineup featured the best 7 hitters in the lineup in the top 7 spots of the order, 2 of our best 3 hitters in the 1-2-4 spots, and Dan Murphy at first base instead of Jeremy Reed.  Murphy went on to look EXCELLENT in the field.  Which can only lead us to more second-guessing of the Reed experiment in the first place. 

The quibbles I can find with this lineup are as follows:

1) Ramon Castro, who actually hit ahead of someone in the lineup today(!!), should've split up Church and Murphy at 5-6.

2) Going with the best hitters at 1-2-4, I think this iteration of the lineup puts Beltran second, Church 3rd, and Castillo 7th.  Again, a very "safe" manager move to put Castillo second.

Still, compared to the last few games, this was an excellent lineup for Jerry.

BULLPEN MANAGEMENT: B

When you have the highest leverage situation you can possibly get, you want your ace reliever on the mound.  Jerry Manuel did not select his ace reliever.  That said, like I went into last post's comments section, very few teams actually do this at this point.  He did go to his "top setup man", and while Parnell and Stokes are pitching better than Putz is, he was coming off a few pretty good outings in a row where the fastball velocity was back again. 

I'm not ready to strip Putz's setup man role away from him yet, it's still too early in the season and he was pitching sore, if not hurt.  This was a defensible move to me.  No A until you start bringing in K-Rod in these spots.

IN-GAME TACTICS: C+

Not a single bunt all night, in what was a tie game for most of the time?  I'm not disappointed, but I am a little surprised given our speed. 

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to critique here for most of the game.  The starters were both pitching out of the few jams they got into, with little help from managing.  Nobody attempted a steal asides from Beltran in the first and Pagan in the ninth, both of which were successful and well-played (I'd argue Beltran going to first but his career SB% means I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The top of the eighth was the most interesting scenario, so lets skip ahead to that.  Wright flew out to center, but it was deep enough to get Beltran and Castillo both to advance, so with second and third and Murphy due, Torre went to his lefty-specialist again.  With no double play opportunity, Jerry elected to let Murphy hit.  Murphy has been a low SO batter, and as I pointed to in yesterday's thread, has pretty nice numbers in a small sample against lefties.  Sheffield and Tatis were both on the bench, and I think I would have gone ahead and PH Sheffield against the lefty.  But, with only one out and the run coming home, getting the ball in play is a big deal.  Sheffield has struck out in 15% of his at-bats this year, compared to Murphy's 7%.  It's close enough to where I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Manuel, again taking into account the need to not try to turn Murphy into a platoon player.  I still would've taken Sheffield, since he gives you the best chance to put 2 runs on the board there and put the game almost out of reach considering how poor the Dodgers hitting was.

Manuel followed this up by pinch-hitting for Church with Tatis, the other right-handed hitter on the bench besides Sheffield.  Here's what I was surprised to learn when I looked it up.  Not only is Tatis hitting poorly against left-handers this year, but for his career, he only has a 13 point OPS split towards left-handers: he's actually completely miscast as a platoon player.  Sheffield, on the other hand, has a 55 point split towards left-handers.  He was also the right solution to the question "who should have hit at some point in the eighth inning?"   I am willing to give Manuel credit here for actually pinch-hitting a right-handed hitter against a left-handedone.  Baby steps, after the last few nights.  But Sheffield needed to be up in the eighth at some point.

In the ninth, after Pagan reached, I also think Sheffield should have been sent up for Reed, given that it was Jonathan Broxton and you need someone who can hit the ball out of the ballpark to beat him.  The thing is, if Manuel had pinch-hit him for Ramon Martinez, the Mets have no shortstop left on the roster.  Even Tatis is gone, so you're talking about using Castillo at short, putting Murphy at second, and putting Sheffield at first.  It might have been the right move, but I don't think there is a manager in the game who'd make that substitution based on the emergency player idea.  So, Sheffield needed to pinch-hit for someone that inning, and it should've been Reed. 

LATE EDIT: According to Surfin The Mets, Manuel said that Sheffield was not available for tonight's game due to illness.  I'm leaving it all up anyway, but consider Jerry absolved of those moves and cross out anoher of Omar Minaya's nine lives instead.  I changed the grade from a C- to a C+ in light of these facts.)

Oh, and that intentional walk to James "84 OPS+" Loney is another one on the intentional walk blooper reel for Manuel.  There is absolutely no reason to be scared of Loney, and since the Mets were already hitting like crap, that means a double takes them from the odds being merely improbably to statistically impossible.

OVERALL: B-

Jerry Manuel can not hit with runners in scoring position, and it's not his fault Ramon Martinez is the only shortstop on the roster that can play a full game.  This was an ugly loss, but I don't think he deserves much of the blame for it, all things considered.